“The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things. Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see. Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful.”
Tao Te Ching 1 · Legge
Translation: James Legge (1891), The Tâo Teh King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XXXIX, public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 216). Reproduced in full and in context; chapter 1 and the chapter count (81 chapters) validated against the source before publishing. Legge’s round brackets are his own clarifying insertions.
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Christian comparison
How this connects to Jesus
The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao, and the name that can be named is not the enduring name. The Tao Te Ching begins with a Way beyond all naming, the source of heaven and earth. The Gospel of John begins strikingly close: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and all things were made through him (John 1:1-3). Christians believe this eternal Word took on a name and a face in Jesus, the Way made known.